Tag Archives: open fracture

Today, I’m writing about a clinical observation that I’ve not seen documented in the doctor books. Maybe it has and I’ve missed it. You be the judge.

I call this particular observation the “greasy blood” sign. You have probably seen it before in your practice as a trauma professional. It is present when you see blood (usually venous) coming from an extremity puncture wound or laceration. What makes it unique is the presence of what looks like drops of oil floating on the surface of the blood.

Here are some learning points about this “greasy blood” sign:

What you are actually seeing is fat from bone marrow issuing from an underlying fracture

It is most commonly seen in blunt trauma with an open fracture

It generally comes from femur or tib/fib fractures, although I’ve seen it a few times from upper extremity fractures

If it is associated with a penetrating injury, it is always a gunshot and typically the underlying fracture is very comminuted

Have you seen this sign in your practice? If so, tweet or comment and share any nuances you’ve experienced.

Open fracture dogma has mandated management of these injuries within an 8 hour window. Over the past several years, there has been a growing number of good papers that dispute this fact. As is the norm, many are retrospective in nature, or meta-analyses of retrospective papers.

Recently, a paper was published that detailed a (small) prospective and multi-center study (3 hospitals in Canada) looking at deep infection, Gustillo grade, antibiotics, and time to treatment. My hopes were raised!

Here are the factoids:

939 patients were screened, but only 736 were actually enrolled

Only 482 completed the entire study (>90 days clinical followup and an interview after 1 year). Others with less clinical followup were still included and analyzed.

Information on fracture grade, time to antibiotic administration, time to OR, and development of deep infections were recorded. Cellulitis and pin site infections were not considered.

Time to antibiotic administration ranged from 1 hour to 10 hours (!!?)

Time to OR ranged from 6 to 13 hours

46 patients developed deep infections, and 56 had cellulitis or pin site infections

Of those who developed infections, there was no clear association with time to OR

Also in those with infections, antibiotics were given after about 3 hours, vs 2.5 hours in those without.

The authors concluded that neither time to antibiotic administration nor time to surgery made any difference on deep tissue infections. But should I believe them?

Bottom line: SLOPPY! If you just read the abstract you might believe the wrong thing. This paper cobbled together surgeons at 3 different centers and let them do their own thing. The researchers just observed the management that these fellowship trained surgeons chose. No guidelines. No protocols. The variability of practice in this study leaves me flabberghasted. The median time to antibiotic administration was 3 hours, with some waiting up to 10 hours! The median time to OR was 9 hours, not so far off the 8 hour mark the everyone seems to look at. No wonder they couldn’t find any differences.

Give antibiotics early. Get to the OR in a reasonable amount of time, preferably using the Gustillo grade to take high grades there sooner. And keep your eye on the literature for papers that are much, much better than this one!

For decades, the standard of care for irrigation and debridement (I&D) of open fractures has been within 8 hours of injury. There is a growing body of orthopedic literature that says this isn’t necessarily so.

A paper presented at AAST, but not yet published, retrospectively looked at their experience with early (<8hrs) vs late I&D in a series of 248 patients. They looked at infection rates stratified by time and upper vs lower extremity.

They found that the infection rates overall were not significantly different. However, when subgrouped by extremity and higher Gustilo type >= III, they noted that both delayed I&D and Gustilo type correlated with infection risk. For the upper extremity, only Gustilo type >= III correlated with a higher infection rate.

The authors concluded that all lower extremity open fractures should be dealt with in the 8 hour time frame, whereas upper extremity fractures can be delayed for lower Gustilo classes.

Bottom line: I don’t necessarily buy into all the results from this small study. The orthopedic literature has already refined this concept. At Regions Hospital, we allow up to 16 hours to I&D for open fractures up to and including Gustilo class IIIA. Above that, the 8 hour rule is followed. We periodically review our registry data on all open fracture patients to make sure that the extended time frame patients are not experiencing an increase in wound complications. And they haven’t in our 8 year experience in handling them this way.

For decades, the standard of care for irrigation and debridement (I&D) of open fractures has been within 8 hours of injury. There is a growing body of orthopedic literature that says this isn’t necessarily so.

A paper being presented at the AAST meeting in Chicago next week retrospectively looked at their experience with early (<8hrs) vs late I&D in a series of 248 patients. They looked at infection rates stratified by time and upper vs lower extremity.

They found that the infection rates overall were not significantly different. However, when subgrouped by extremity and higher Gustilo type >= III, they noted that both delayed I&D and Gustilo type correlated with infection risk. For the upper extremity, only Gustilo type >= III correlated with a higher infection rate.

The authors concluded that all lower extremity open fractures should be dealt with in the 8 hour time frame, whereas upper extremity fractures can be delayed for lower Gustilo classes.

Bottom line: I don’t necessarily buy into all the results from this small study. The orthopedic literature has already refined this concept. At Regions Hospital, we allow up to 16 hours to I&D for open fractures up to and including Gustilo class IIIA. Above that, the 8 hour rule is followed. We periodically review our registry data on all open fracture patients to make sure that the extended time frame patients are not experiencing an increase in wound complications. And they haven’t in our 8 year experience in handling them this way.

For decades, the standard of care for irrigation and debridement (I&D) of open fractures has been within 8 hours of injury. There is a growing body of orthopedic literature that says this isn’t necessarily so.

A paper being presented at the AAST meeting in Chicago next week retrospectively looked at their experience with early (<8hrs) vs late I&D in a series of 248 patients. They looked at infection rates stratified by time and upper vs lower extremity.

They found that the infection rates overall were not significantly different. However, when subgrouped by extremity and higher Gustilo type >= III, they noted that both delayed I&D and Gustilo type correlated with infection risk. For the upper extremity, only Gustilo type >= III correlated with a higher infection rate.

The authors concluded that all lower extremity open fractures should be dealt with in the 8 hour time frame, whereas upper extremity fractures can be delayed for lower Gustilo classes.

Bottom line: I don’t necessarily buy into all the results from this small study. The orthopedic literature has already refined this concept. At Regions Hospital, we allow up to 16 hours to I&D for open fractures up to and including Gustilo class IIIA. Above that, the 8 hour rule is followed. We periodically review our registry data on all open fracture patients to make sure that the extended time frame patients are not experiencing an increase in wound complications. And they haven’t in our 8 year experience in handling them this way.

Posts navigation

Can’t Keep Up With Your Literature?

Sign up to receive the Trauma MedEd Newsletter, and get a free copy of my report on how to stay current. The newsletter is released every 1-2 months, and delivers four pages packed with trauma information you absolutely need to know! Subscribers get it a week before it's released on the website. Click the image to subscribe!Next issue (July): Trauma Divert

9 Tips To An Effective PIPS Program

Trauma System News interviewed me and produced this eBook on how to establish, build, and manage an effective Performance Improvement and Patient Safety program. Click the image above to visit their site and download your copy!

Merch!

I've had to say it so many times, I finally made a t-shirt! Available in multiple styles, for men and women. Check out the store!